History of Maylands

Since its establishment in 1946, Maylands Yacht Club has developed a rich history of producing State, National and International sailing champions. Their Opening Day for the 2019-20 season is next Sunday, October 5 from 12 noon. Whether your intention is to learn to sail and win races or just have fun on boats with family and friends, their sailing development program delivers.

Maylands has the distinction of being at the "top" of the Swan River. The club’s history dates back to the 1940s when its members' needs were served by a corrugated-iron shed on the river bank. Phase one of the expansion came when some army barrack buildings came on the market and under the leadership of foundation commodore Wally Gaunt. This was followed by a successful fundraising drive resulting in the purchase of a building that was transported and erected adjacent to the Maylands jetty.

The Maylands Yacht Club was established on the foreshore in 1946. MYC is the home of the "Mudlark", a class of boat for juniors designed and built by Wally Gaunt, father of Terry Gaunt who was Club Patron for many years. Early photographs of the jetty and a painting of the old shed are still on display in the clubhouse today as a testament to their history. The current buildings were completed in 1971 with the help of the City of Stirling and are now leased by the Club from the City of Bayswater.

As is with much of todays’ lifestyles and face paced lives, members and guests have walked past and glanced at the central painting displayed over the bar and not given much thought to its importance. It is, in fact, a painting by Stewart Cownie. John Gaunt reveals and recalls its history by saying that a similar black and white drawing appears in the book "Yacht Clubs of WA". Mr Cownie was a member of the club when his son began sailing in Mudlarks. He illustrated the original Mudlark building plans on one large sheet in an effective magazine style. Many would have seen Stewart's drawings and paintings in book illustrations, perhaps without knowing the artist's name. He is often the artist who created those line drawings, mounted on the walls, of historic WA buildings, from cafes to museums and galleries.

He was director of the WA Newspapers art department and is widely respected in artistry circles. Our prized painting is a club treasure and after it went missing for some years and after the hall was trashed by hirers, it was given to a framer for repair and was not collected. One day the framer did a spring clean and had a friend of club, veteran Max Bennett, whom he rang to ask if the club wanted it back.

Other treasures include a tangible link to the earliest competitive sailing in the Maylands district through a silver cup from the 1923 season. An extract from the West Australian from January 13, 1923 shows how different regattas were back then. It was the Maylands Sailing Club’s first annual regatta. It even featured duck hunting!

“The Maylands Sailing Club will hold its first annual regatta this afternoon at the Maylands Jetty. The programme is a good one, including swimming, canoeing, duck hunting, and yachting and all events can be seen from the jetty. Gold and silver medals and other trophies will be awarded to the winners of the minor events, whilst the winner of the yacht race will receive a silver cup, donated by Mr. R. T. Robinson, K.C.”

The winner of the inaugural silver cup was H. Sims aboard "Cedric", which was listed as owned by a T. Davis in 1921. T. Davis and H. Sims were, from the very early years, connected with the Maylands Sailing Club. October 5, 1916, the West Australian published a list of the full committee Vice-Commodore, Mr T. Davis, and Rear-Commodore, Mr. H. Sims.

By 1924, Maylands had 8 skiffs. The “Yachting Yelps” column in the Perth Mirror reported,

“The Maylands Sailing Club, having disposed of their fleet, have decided to adopt the 16ft. Skiff for their waters; and have taken the moulds of several of the Mosman's Bay skiffs. They are also making use of the set of drawings of the Intrepid (interstate champion for three years), which was presented to the club by Mr. George Press, of Sydney. Any yachting enthusiasts may also have these moulds free of charge. A gala day will be held at Mosman's Bay on Saturday, March 10. An open yacht race will also be held — prizes 10 pounds”.

Mr. H. Sims is mentioned later, in 1930, as being from the Mosman Bay Skiff Club. It is likely that this is where the Maylands skiffs relocated, apparently in the late 1920s.

Photos below show a panorama of the Maylands foreshore before any sailing club premises (or even many houses) existed. Our best guess as to the date of this photo, according to our resident Maylands patriarch Terry Gaunt Snr, is around 1920. The structure at the end of the jetty was a diving tower. A very popular annual swim through Maylands was held here in the 1930’s.

Research has revealed that about the time of this photo, a sailing club was operating from the jetty. The Maylands Sailing Club conducted handicap racing on Saturday, starting mid-afternoon. Following the jetty’s construction and subsequent extension in 1912, it was reported by the West Australian that "Enthusiasts in the suburb are now making preliminary arrangements for the formation of a local sailing and motor launch club." The initial races were held on January 18, 1913.

The initial race was won by ‘Niroka’, second place went to ‘Cedric’ with ‘Wedouree’ third. The course marks had interesting names like; Belmont, Duck Farm, Pottery and Bunbury buoys. The club continued to flourish through the mid-1920’s, after adopting 12 and 14 foot skiffs, and became known as The Maylands Skiff Club.

Albeit shorter than in 1913, remnants of the 103-year-old jetty still stand today. It was built out to mid-stream due to the low water depth which enabled the beginning of organised sailing events with the formation of the inaugural Maylands Sailing Club. It was again shortened after dredging of the channel, but by 1932, vandals had damaged it, removing the planking and "rendering it unfit for use" as reported by The Daily News. The hardwood planks would have been highly treasured for re-sale or to keep some home fires burning during the tough years of the Depression:

Fortunately, we now have a very sturdy jetty since 2016 and a wonderful viewing point for the club and the public to continue to enjoy fishing and watching our sailing ....... with no missing planks!!

Below is one of the earliest photos at hand showing organised racing in the MYC waters. These boats were part of the Maylands Sailing Club which operated from the Maylands jetty. These were likely to have been 16-foot skiffs, more popular at the time than the later 14 foot skiffs which became more prevalent in the 1920s. It appears to be in the vicinity of the current Aerodrome mark in an easterly breeze. Significantly, this would have been the last Summer that fleets would race until after WWI.

An article in The West Australian in October 1916 stated: "The general meeting of the Maylands Sailing Club was held at the Central Hotel, Maylands, on Thursday evening last. As more than 75 per cent of the 1914 members had enlisted with the A.I.F, the club's operations were suspended entirely during the past season, and the meeting was therefore made up with an almost complete change of personnel. The following officers were elected - Commodore, Mr. T. L. Buckenara; Vice-Commodore, Mr.T. Davis; rear-commodore, Mr. H. Sims; handicapper, Mr. E. Lessels; judge and starter, and H. Sims; patron."

From the archives of 50 years ago, Brian Plumb reminisces on a photo taken in 1965, when MYC was conducting races from the old tin shed on the foreshore. Brian can be seen holding his Moth, number 6454, and he is wearing his Perth football club jumper. Wally Gaunt's runabout is anchored at the left of photo. (Thanks to Terry Gaunt Snr for this photo).

Maylands - 1940s. Terry Gaunt Snr says that the Vee Jay, on the box trailer in the foreground of the image, is Peter Reid's ‘Raider’. Peter was a valuable member of the MYC in the ‘40s & ‘50s. He was Club Secretary for a number of years and his father, Bill, was Commodore of the club in the early days (1940s). Terry himself had great success in his Vee Jay, ‘Villain’.

Terry recalls, ‘This photo was taken in about 1947. That was my first boat ‘Villain’ (M3) when Vee Jay's were introduced to Maylands (eventually the MYC fleet built up to between 20 to 30 boats). My father Wally was skippering the boat with his foot. I think I was crewing for him (can't be certain of that.) It could have been Bert Harris who was my Vee Jay crew in those early days." Terry went on to win three National Vee Jay Titles (including one as a Junior) and another MYC member, Gordon Collins, won two Nationals in the class.

Not many MYC members would remember the Vee Jay Class (Vaucluse Junior). Designed at Vaucluse, Sydney, in 1931 by Charles Sparrow and Sil Rohu. These 11ft 6in (3.5m) little rocketships of a dinghy were once the most popular and most numerous sailing boat in Australia and was also built in many countries around the world. As times have changed and sporting interests and activities of families have changed, other sailing classes have come and gone, and unfortunately the once dominant Vee Jay has almost died out.

Inspired by how challenging and how much fun these crafts were Warren Nupier, who skippered ‘Impala’ in 1966/67, returned with a group of Vee Jay sailors in October 2010. They continue this traditional sailing out of Teralba Sailing Club at Lake Macquarie, NSW.

Terry recalls Grant and Ross McInnes in the impressive ‘Big Mac’ in 1969 where his involvement in the Vee Jays was to crew at the Kogarah Bay Sailing Club in Sydney from the early 1960s when Grant McInnes began sailing in the class. “Grant was my next-door neighbour at the time. He lived on one side and on the other side of our house was the KBSC clubhouse. We used to regularly practise our sailing together. Grant went on, with his brother Ross, to win three consecutive National Vee Jay Championships from 1967/68. I bought a motor bike and only came back to sailing when I moved to Perth ten years later!”.

Maylands Yacht Club Racing Champions
A short summary and not an exhaustive list of club champions by any means;

MOTHS:
2 World Championships; Rob O’Sullivan 1974-75 in Sweden and 1977-78 in Brisbane
1 Pan Pacific Championship; Brian Plumb, 1968 in Wellington, NZ
3 National Championships; Rob O’Sullivan 1973-74 in Perth; 1977-78 in Brisbane and Cliff Burton 1976-77 and 1979-80
3 National Runners-Up; 9 State Championships.

CATAMARAN: World Champion, Kim Stephens.
VEE JAY: 5 National Championships: Terry Gaunt Snr, Junior Champion 1950-51, 1951-52; Senior Champion 1955-56. Gordon Collins, Senior Champion 1957-58, 1958-59.

GWEN 12: 2 National Championships.

LASERS: State Championships; John Gaunt 1974-75, 1975-76; 1977-78, 1978-79.

HERONS: 24 State Championships.


The club continues to make history with three lady skippers in their Sabre fleet of ten boats, with an active Learn To Sail program running each season from October to May.

Special Thank You to Terry Gaunt Snr, Brian Plumb and Chris Holyday for helping compile this club history.